Category: Politics

Left Wing rants, Andrew Wilkie for Bennelong, Down with Dubbya.

Bombs in Bangkok

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We were in Siam Square yesterday, watching the teen idols rehearse for the New Years show.  I don’t know where the bombings were in relation to this, but it was on the same train line.  The first bombings must have happened just after we took off from the airport, and we were blissfully unaware of it until tonight when we sat down at the Bia Hoi (“fresh beer”) cafe/intersection/death trap.  We met some more Aussie tourists who told us about the bombings – they had just flown in from Ho Chi Minh city. 

Tonight we went to the third vegetarian restaurant that is mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide book, and I am at a loss to understand why these places had a recommendation.  Either a) the places have changed a lot, or b) the Lonely Planet writers were born without tastebuds.

I fully expected that we were going to have to eat some things that weren’t utterly kosher while we were traveling.  But I never expected to be wanting to tear the legs off passing cows just to get some bloody flavour in my food after 24hours in Vietnam.  The bulk of my experience with Vietnamese food was pre-crazy bunnyhugging animal rights veganism, so I know a good pho when I smell one.  And I’ve smelled a lot of them.  I’ve also had smells of fabulous steamboats waft across my path, and dried squid (why do such tasty animals also have to be so intelligent looking?  I can’t eat one of these!), and all manner of offal is starting to look strangely attractive.

Is it worse to buy silk and murder 1000 silkworms, or eat one squid ?

What about the merest shaving of cow ?

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Warning – I am under the influence of mood altering drugs.

Pink has released a video for Peta asking people to boycott Australian wool because of cruelty in the wool industry.

I still buy Australian wool, but this does give me pause.  Mulesing is done for the long term health of the sheep, but is only necessary because of selectively breeding for sheep that have more skin than they need to cover their bodies.  More skin = more wool, hence the distinctive “collar” of the merino sheep.  Unfortunately this loose skin can trap feces and make the sheep vulnerable to fly strike. 

Fly strike in a sheep can go undetected for a very long time, and will often kill an animal before it is detected, especially if the sheep has a long fleece.

There are alternatives to mulesing, and there are anesthetics that can be used to ease the considerable pain.  These options have not been explored, and I am not above putting a little pressure on the decision makers to consider more humane alternatives.

Read no further if you want to keep buying Australian wool without concern for the creatures that grew your yarn.  While I would grant that prevention of a slow death is a laudable aim, I must question the methods.

Mulesing involves pinching a handful of skin above the vent, at the base of the spine, and using a razor sharp knife to remove the excess skin.  The animals are given no pain relief, and are left to heal naturally.

I didn’t think much about this until I took a closer look at one of the pictures I took on monday.  Here is a pic I took of the sheep on the road, in a slightly larger size.  If you look closely, you can see that these sheep have been mutilated, many are still showing the raw pink scar tissue.  The pictures aren’t too disturbing for those of weak stomachs, but I was surprised that I didn’t see this yesterday, but I did today.

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Smart kids more likely to be “vegetarian”

According to an article published in the British Medical Journal (abstract here), kids who had a high IQ when tested at age 10 were more likely to be vegetarian as adults.

But here’s the thing. 33.6% of the test group claimed to be vegetarian, but also said they ate fish or chicken. Vegetarians and vegans accounted for 4.5% of the subjects. Apparently they included the fish and chippocrites in the “vegetarian” group.

The study lumps them both together – claiming to be a vegetarian (or vegan), while having no concept of the difference between an animal and a plant doesn’t disqualify you from a high IQ.

I think they need to review the test.

A quote

Tonight we had a Greens meeting that was a little more interesting than usual. We were supposed to preselect a candidate for the state seat of Epping, but a health scare and a work commitment prevented the candidate from standing, which is a great pity. She isn’t someone I know very well, but apparently she is a woman of faith, and she quoted St Augustine of Hippo in conversation. He was born in Africa in the 5th Century, and is believed to have said,

“Hope has two beautiful daughters, and their names are anger and courage. Anger about those things that need to be changed, and the courage to change them.”

Lee Rhiannon spoke about the Lane Cove Tunnel, as did Ray Kearney, Chair of the Lane Cove Tunnel Action Group, and Professor of Immunology and infectious Diseases at Sydney University.

Two things made me angry. Apparently the CSIRO are quashing the findings from emissions research for financial gain. I knew they accepted large grants from the Meat and Livestock Corporation and then released a diet book heavy in red meat. But I didn’t know that the problem was widespread. I was also shocked just now after doing a google search for meat and livestock csiro to see just how many links there were containing those words. Apparently you can buy the CSIRO.

Secondly, we are all aware that cars are dangerous. We are bombarded with media attention on young drivers in fatal accidents, kiddies that get squashed by high speed police chases and lose limbs when cars crash into day care centers. But I had no idea that the number of pollution related deaths in Australia each year outnumbers road fatalities by a factor of about three to one. That the cost to our public health system of air quality related illness is absolutely massive, and makes a poor joke of arguments that we can’t filter tunnel emissions because the cost is too high.

I had no idea. None at all. Isn’t it funny that we can live in a world and think that we are aware of the issues that affect our day to day lives, and yet there are massive issues like this lurking literally like clouds over our heads, and we are oblivious.

I am finding the anger, just waiting on the courage.

And in knitting news…..

My last Christmas knitting project is nearing completion. Last night I was on the 5th line of the last chart when I discovered I was about 50cm away from the end of the ball. The only ball. So today I popped in to Rubi + Lana to pick up another ball. BUT THERE WAS NONE ON THE SHELF.

Cue panic attack. Rapid inhalation and exhalation, resulting in not much oxygen getting to the brain, and I almost cried. I am waaaay overdue for a big cry, but this was not the time, nor the place. Pamela, this is where you come in. Apparently, you ordered two large balls of the same colour, and some clever person had put aside on small ball for you. Apparently, there is more yarn at the warehouse with your name on it, but some helpful person snaffled the last small ball and hid it from view, just in case you might want that before the two large balls came from the warehouse. Apparently, I was able to convince the very helpful staff that my need was greater than yours, and they you would understand.

Apparently, the universe owes me a few blessings, and I am now well on the road to finishing. And Pamela, I owe you one. (And I won’t use much of this ball, and it’s yours when I’m done!)

For the World of Warcraft Widows

M-H linked to this on her blog today – and it’s a must read for gamers, and the people that share their lives. I will admit that I play World of Warcraft, but nowhere near as much as most people I know that play it. And I will admit that the game has been blamed for a lack of dishes being washed, and vacuuming being done, and possibly a little bit of marital disharmony.

The writer says that playing a game where 39 other people depend on you is a real priority for those players of Level 60+, as are the demands of real life – but sometimes priorities aren’t always examined in the cold light of day.

In other news, congratulations to Womens Weekly and Womens Day, who agreed to run advertisements about the cruelty of the intensive factory farmed pork industry. And a big boo to Marie Claire, Delicious, and the Good Weekend, who didn’t want to upset the meat industry by running the ads.

I don’t want to come over all feral animal rights activist (I wash, so you can’t really call me feral), but if you’re going to eat it, you might as well know where it comes from. There is a big push towards organics, many of us don’t want to eat genetically modified organisms, there is an increasing awareness of the issues of battery hens – and yet the meat industry is powerful enough to stop an education campaign in some of Australias big glossy magazines.

I don’t like it.

Furry People

BBC News has published an article that discusses the Question “Are chimps people?”. At Chez Lara and Mark (AKA “Club Denistone”), I’ve been referring to the non-human members of the household as “furry people” for quite some time, and it is natural for me to think of them as differently abled, and differently motivated people. They are definitely part of our little family, their comfort is as important to me as my own – more so, because they rely on me utterly for everything they have. In a way, their reliance on me makes the obligation more important than other concerns, and I try to make sure they have everyhting they need for happy, furry little lives.

But are they PEOPLE? Hmmmm…..

They are individuals. They learn. They communicate. They have emotions. None of this I doubt – but what is it that defines personhood? I think it is a mistake to consider personhood in terms of worth, or value (as in “it’s not worth the money for life saving surgery, it’s only a rabbit”), but this is often thrown at me when strangers find out how much I care for my creatures. I have been told more than once that I am a bad person because I have spent money on vet care instead of … (whatever it is they think is more worthy).

So lacking a concrete definition of what a person is, I am inclined to err on the side of caution, and treat them with respect. Ultimately, I don’t need a definition. Your mileage may vary. 😉

Thanks to Kris for this link. Imitation is sincere flattery;)

Good Grief

Having stared into the possibility of my own fathers demise this week (yes, I know I am a drama queen), I have a great deal of sympathy for any family suffering a loss, particularly the sudden loss of a healthy and young person, a parent of young children. This post has nothing to do with a certain celebrity zoo keeper, this is about feminism.

I read with interest Mary Helen‘s post on being an older feminist. Many women of my age (36 and thereabouts) can be heard to spout such nonsense as “I’m not a feminist but…..(insert feminist statement here)”. As in, “I’m not a feminist, but I believe in equal pay for equal work”. Sorry dear, but you are a feminist, and there isn’t a thing Stan Zemanek can do about it, except make you revile the word, and corrupt the power inherent in taking ownership of the word. The word feminist has been taken by the new right, and been refashioned to mean only negatives.

My mother was a feminist. She worked outside the home, she studied, she had opinions, she had realistic (ie. high) ideas of her own self worth. I dare say that if she had had the same choices and opportunities that were available to women of my generation that she would have made different choices, but she fought for opportunities that we now take for granted. And any denial of feminism, any acceptance that feminist equals the talkback radio definition of the word is a betrayal of the women who fought for the privileges we enjoy today.

Complacency has no place in todays feminists. If we accept that the rights we have today are enough, and that there is no more to fight for, then we’ll keep living in a world where women are punished for having an opinion.
Nothing wrong with having an opinion. I understand that a time of grief is not the right time to put the boot in, and Ms Greer’s timing could have been better, but the invective that has poured upon this women for her comments is totally over the top.

By the same token, have you noticed the language that has been used to criticise her ?

I won’t clutter up this post (do your own goole search if you don’t believe this is a true sampling), but some of the people attacking her make her sound measured and reasonable.

“Why the bitterness, Germaine? Someone take a bite out of your gingerbread house? …”

“Inhuman: Leftist Hag Germaine Greer Celebrates Death of Steve Irwin”

“Suffice it to say that Greer, now in her declining years, is a malcontent and an iconoclast who decided, for whatever nonsensical reason, to turn her venom towards the chief icon of the cable television channel “Animal Planet.”

“After passing away from a stingray attack, Steve Irwin is denigrated by deranged feminist Germaine Greer.”

What she said may not be tasteful, or kind, or compassionate, but if it was said by a man, would the reaction be different?

I think it would.

A man died so Germaine Greer decided the time was right to express that thought . What a sweet girl she is.

Catch Up Post

On Wednesday night we got another bunny from Penrith vet. He’d been desexed that day, and Mark picked him up after work, and set him up in the middle of our kitchen. Not a marvellous place for a bunny to live, but we are running out of space for new creatures. New bunny is a mini lop with siamese markings. He looks a little like a sock monkey, and has been referred to as “monkey boy”. He is extremely cute, and I have pictures I will post soon. He and Blueberry would make a fabulous couple, and I am wondering if the person who is taking her would consider a couple if I can bond them.

Wednesday night we went to Bev and Ted’s (Marks parents) for dinner. I had told Ted that Mark was struggling with his new life as a teacher, so the four of us put our heads together to try to work out some strategies for making his life in the classroom a happier one. Mark is a wonderful teacher, and he cares deeply about his kids, their happiness and educational outcomes – but he has never been able to be the bad guy, especially with kids. I’ve never had a great deal to do with children, but I have spent enough time with the species to know that if you aren’t consistent, and there are no repercussions for bad behaviour, then the kids will happily crush you and do a happy dance on the shattered fragments of what used to be your feeling of self worth. Monsters.

I, on the other hand, have no trouble being the bad guy. I was so deeply unpopular at school that I had to learn what it was to be me, and really learn to be ok with who I am. Once you’ve been there, someone not liking a decision you’ve made isn’t upsetting, and it’s easy to mantain consistency. It’s also bloody hard to back down and admit you’re wrong, but I’m getting better at that now. Kinda.

Thursday night, Kerry spoke at a public forum in Epping about West Papuan refugees in Papua New Guinea. Kerry visited PNG a few weeks ago to see for herself the reality of the only other choice for people fleeing West Papua. If a person has been politically active in the West Papuan independance movemnet, and they want to leave the country, theoretically they could apply in person at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta (as long as they could get th Jakarta without being detained or killed), or they could flee to PNG.

Papua New Guinea has a refugee camp that has been in existance for over 20 years (and some people have lived there for that long). Despite deep sympathy for the plight of West Papuans, the PNG government has very few resources to share, and the refugee camp (which is extremely isolated and difficult to access), is only now having water tanks installed to ensure a continuous supply of clean drinking water. Aid agencies have supplied basic healthcare and some schooling for children, but this is not a gateway to any sort of future, just a holding pen.

That is the reason why 42 West Papuan refugees cut down a tree, hollowed the center to make a canoe, strapped 2 outboard motors on it, and made their way across the ocean to Australia. Not because they wanted a better life – because they wanted any life.

A priest from West Papua put his three teenaged sons onto this boat, and when he was asked why he put his children in such a dangerous position, he replied, “Because I wanted them to live”.

Australia helped to create the problems in West Papua, our governement has a responsibility to the people of Australia to behave ethically towards people who ask us for help. John Howard withdrew the motion to have all refugees processed away from Australian soil, but please make sure you let your local member know how you feel about these issues. Australian politics seems to be very much centered on taking care of interest rates so that middle and high income earners can maintain their comfortable existance, while low income earners and the disenfranchised are ignored.

And in knitting news….

The Swallowtail Shawl has be plagued by my inability to count. Last night I frogged about 6 full rows (which takes much longer than knitting 6 rows), to find a missed yarn over. All well and good, but the mystery is – how did I miss this ? I count at the end of every row, and when I get to the centre stitch of a pattern row. So if I missed a stitch that far back, I must have miscounted at least 8 times. And, you would assume that the pattern would be out. Wouldn’t you ? Well – it wasn’t. It was all going swimmingly for ages until I was a stitch short at the end of a pattern row.

At least I had beautiful music to listen to. Mark picked me up after work and took me to listen to the final rehearsal of Coro Innominata before their sunday afternoon concert. I usually attend all of Marks concerts (since the first one I saw the day after our first kiss), and will only miss this one because I HAVE TICKEST TO THE CIRCUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Towards Tolerance

I used to be very ignorant about faiths other than christianity (and I knew very little about that until I went to christian youth camps), but since September 11, 2001, I have made a conscious effort to learn more about the major religions. I still don’t know very much, but I do know that despite my upbringing that encouraged tolerance and acceptance, I was still ignorant, and a little intolerant.

I didn’t understand why a woman would choose to take the veil, and I was appalled by stories of female genital mutilation, and young suicide bombers being revered as martyrs. And then the whole thing about being rewarded with virgins.

Goes to show that only knowing one side of a story is never going to allow a balanced understanding of an issue. So I started looking for the other side of the story – not easy.

I’ve read “Nine Parts of Desire”, expecting a balanced view of the women of Islam, but was saddened to see that the author didn’t want to bust a sterotype, only perpetuate it.

So if anyone can point me towards a book that shows the other side of the veil, something that can help me to understand why women of intelligence choose islam, I’d be very interested.

This all came up because I read about the Tolerant World organisation at another website.

Here is their mission statement…

To offer young people in Asia the Middle East and around the world – especially those who are already disenfranchised – the ability to join and become a leader in a movement whose ideology they can passionately believe in and through which they can bring about real change in the world. This movement will be a peaceful and positive alternative to the evil ideologies offered by terror organizations and the like.
The Movement’s ultimate objective is to defeat the evil ideology of terrorism, fascism and bigotry and establish world tolerance and therefore peace. All programs initiated by movement revolve around this objective. Currently the following six broad programs have been initiated.

A link to their site here.